For years, the 941 Theatre on Front Street played host to various arts and music acts. Now, at the site where the Vampire Legends of Sodom once showed at the theatre during the Fringe Fest and local filmmakers previously showcased their films, exercise enthusiasts and gym goers can show their moves at Crossfit Love, which opened in the theatre’s place last December.

The new gym

The gym is the latest addition to a strip of Front Street, situated between Spring Garden and Poplar with a view of the waterfront, (if you can get past staring at I-95) that has been steadily developing over the past few years.

More homes coming here soon

The Liberty Gates, designed like a down the shore development, was the first wave of new development on this block a few years ago. This June, the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association approved plans for eight more homes at 933-37 Front St. right next to Liberty Gates. And across the street there are also homes being built on a triangular slip of land. And driving north towards Poplar from Spring Garden, just across the street from the 941 Theatre, eleven homes are nearly complete.

Homes under construction to the right, Liberty Gates to the left, and the Pennthouses in the distance

In all, there are over 25 new units coming online on the 900 block of Front Street in the next couple of years. And that doesn’t even count the second phase of the Penn Treaty Village Pennthouses, still under construction, which will add dozens of additional apartment units. And now, all of those new residents have convenient access to a Crossfit gym. Sweet.

Who knew that living so close to the waterfront was something that people would actually be into? Oh yeah, that’s right. Everyone knew that.

–Lou Mancinelli